A great place to visit in Northern California along the coast is the Avenue of the Giants off of Highway 101. It is surrounded and passes through the coastal redwoods trees of the Sequoia National Forest. It is designated a national monument and is something that everyone needs to see and visit sometime in their life if possible.
These trees are huge and can only be fully appreciated in person, but we took some pictures to try and help persuade you. Children get a sense of the gigantic-ness that exists in life and on this world, besides just big buildings. Plus it’s a great way to give them a sense of how big life was a long time ago. And adults will stand in awe of the beauty and magnificence that these trees represent.
We took 101 back to Oregon and made our way through the Avenue of the Giants. It’s a great trip with smooth and safe roads and towns all along the way just keep your eyes on the road!
The coastal redwoods are not the biggest trees but they are the tallest. The Redwoods of the Sierra Nevada Mountains claim the largest by volume and the bristle cone pine is the oldest with some more than 5000 years old. Some coastal redwood measure 370 feet tall, as tall as a 35 story building, and up to 25 feet in diameter. They date up to 2,200 years old.
Many groves to visit along the Avenue and in the Sequoia National Forest
There are additional state parks in the area with coastal redwoods and they include:
Humboldt Redwoods SP
Armstrong Redwoods SR
Hendy Woods SP
Admiral William Standley SRA
Grizzly Creek Redwoods SP
The drive from San Francisco is about 350 miles or about 6 hours doing the limit. From Portland, Oregon the trip is about 327 miles and from Seattle, Washington about 500 miles. Make that family trip and visit all of the the scenic beauty we have here on the west coast and help to keep it around for our future generations.
Wow looks amazing! Would love to see the redwoods!
Absolutely beautiful! And so huge!! What a great educational activity for the kids!
Seeing the Sequoia trees is on my bucket list. As a kid, my parents took me on a lot of vacations out west but we never made it far enough to see these amazing trees.